Please add your pictures directly to the thread. For some of us who post regularly, it's a time consuming chore to chase after them. One picture per post can be added.

Hi, I would break the sloped embankment into several phases to do a bit each year. A few thoughts came to mind. Would you be interested in making a sitting deck in that area? I'm a gardener so I have some ideas. I'd look at ripping the vegetation out over a period of time and replacing it with low growing shrubs, perennial plants and definitely as you rip the crap out and flip the soil over put a couple of layers of landscape fabric and mulch. You could also get some garden 4x4s or use treated lumber (if you are not growing any vegetables) and put in a terrace and step the slope down, lay down fabric and mulch. I don't know if you are into gardening or not. If you were interested in putting a sitting deck, ripping out the vegetation and putting some interesting planting in the area could start small and gradually expand it each year so you have something to look at while you are sitting. Another thing you could add is have some large stones installed for interest. I don't know how much you are willing to spend on your area. If there are similar slopes in your area drive around to see what other folk have done. Google sloped gardens. Check out the library for gardening books. Just a few thoughts. Cheers, Peggy

+Sit back, relax, buy some books and start talking about what you want your garden to do for you. Are you a Vegetable gardener, want a swimming pool, orchard, wildflower meadow.. There is a great book called The American Meadow by John Greenlee. I could see developing Swaths of larger grasses combined with dark green sedges and wildflowers. I garden on 17 acres and it is TOTALLY different than gardening a lot.. Most of it , I have left wild and I manage the wildness. I have developed view lines from where I spend most of my time. I play with dimension and emphasize the stages. I create separate rooms in my mind. barriers are for piercing but create great privacy. The farther away, the larger the planting. small details are for by the house, pathways or where you spend time. I'd take it a bit at a time. I have been working on my cactus garden last year. This year I am working on a stone wall , but I am starting a bunch of wild grasses for plugs for next years project. You need to ask are you going to mow this place or are you going to get grasses that need no mowing OR WATERING. When one works on a large garden, one always has to think of how one will do this and keep it. Mowed areas must be defined apart from un-mowed areas. I go for the wild look and I love my short grass prairie grasses. I am lazy. I don't own a mower. Is there a HOA with expectations? My type of garden really pisses them off. There is so much to think about with an blank slate like this. Keep it this way for a year and see what comes up and do your research. Maybe there are some surprises under that dirt.

I think it's kind of rude to comment just to tell me what I did wrong by asking for help (with plenty of detail) and using pictures that were readily available to me. If you are giving advice, which is what I asked for, these pictures are good enough. It doesn't matter on what site, on what forum- there is always one person who just HAS to pipe up to be unhelpful and critique your request instead of answering your questions. I was asking for advice on my own fledgeling plan- not asking for free design from someone. Next time if you don't have anything helpful to say, and if you can't give your thoughts nicely, just don't say anything. I'm sure it's satisfying to try to discourage new gardeners by giving your two cents about their photos, their ideas, and whatever else without giving your opinions on the questions actually posed. Going on the attack like that with the third degree, "You indicate you are new at creating a landscape, and frustrated by attempting the process of planning it. Then you go on to say how you intend to resolve it. Do you care if those ideas are good? Or you just want help in how to implement them? You might consider advice on what you ought to do instead of what you want to do." I'm not a child and am fully capable of planning and doing it on my own, thank you, I'm just here to see if a KIND person might give a few suggestions or point out something they've seen that looked nice on a similar house. Also, there is nothing wrong with being honest about what's in the cards for you (budget, time, and overall investment wise) than just wasting everyone's time. I didn't want a thread with 20 responses about how I need to limb up, thin, or remove trees in my yard. I want a thread about how to plant a line of perennials in front of my house that will look nice together. I think in my essay of a post I made that fairly clear.